Dwight Howard gets hacked a lot

Posted by
Inside Hoops

Nov
7

Orlando Magic star Dwight Howard is a bad free throw shooter, so it’s a good gamble for defenders about to give up a potential easy inside shot to be sure to foul him and force him to sink the charity stripe shots.

Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel reports:

The Hack-a-Howard is in a lot of opponent’s game-plans just as the Hack-a-Shaq was when O’Neal was a young Magic center.

The Magic have no more answers today for Howard than they did in the early-to-mid ’90s with Shaq.

The club complained to the league back then about the intentional, body-jarring fouling and little changed. Ditto in the Dwight era.

On Friday, General Manager Otis Smith threw up his hands and said, “What’s the league going to do?” Coach Stan Van Gundy has talked like a defense attorney this season on behalf of Howard, hoping the NBA might get the message through the media.

The answer?

“We — and Dwight — have to adjust to the situation the way it is,” Van Gundy said.

Howard for his career shoots 56.9% from the field, and only a little better, 60.2% from the free throw line.